First day on the boat with guests. A family of 10 had chartered the boat I was driving. We have a young captain who generally drives one of our other boats that needed to get some time on this boat. The naturalist was a young lady who I've worked with a lot. I did some crew training before the guests arrived. Oh, and with charters, they are usually not on time... today was no different.
Having lived by an appointment book most of my adult life, I have to let it go when the guests aren't on time... as long as they have chartered the boat, they are paying for the time. Everyone seemed nice as we boarded them (20 minutes after our scheduled departure time); I did a friendly safety and orientation talk and we shoved off.
There was a good whale report when I came into work: J-Pod has come back into the area. Last time they did that, a couple weeks ago, they were only here for a day. There have been some transient Orcas to fill the void. I was delighted that they decided to come back in on my first day!
We had to run almost an hour to get to the leaders in the group. Reports were coming in that put whales along a 10 mile stretch, in Haro Strait and Boundary Pass. I decided to take us north to intercept the leaders, hoping that the timing would work to be able to see the others, as well, as they moved north. Having a fast boat gives us options.
Since we left the harbor a half hour after most of the other boats, I was delighted to find that we were able to position ourselves in line with the leaders (the Orca leaders); there were about 8 other boats on the scene. As we got close, we saw a sailboat run right up on them - a very big NO-NO...
We were able to identify the whales we were seeing as member of J-Pod... and a couple from L-Pod!
The boat above is our other Friday Harbor boat. You can see that they have a much bigger crowd aboard. We saw some familiar faces... um, dorsal fins... Onyx, Big Mike, and Blackberry stood out in the crowd. Training another captain, I didn't have a lot of time to take photos.
One beautiful, fully out of the water breach - of course, I didn't have my camera out, as I was positioning the boat. It was a great viewing!
Coming back, I took the scenic route: through John's Pass and around the Cactus Islands; the guests were able to see some seals, hauled out on the rocks and playing in the water, and bald eagles. Once around O'Neil Island for a pair of eagles in flight, then back to Friday Harbor... a wonderful way to start my season.
I brought the boat to the slip, thanked our guests, helped them off, then took off again to allow the other captain some helm time bringing the boat in.
Bringing the boat to our dock is an interesting situation: between the Washington State Ferry and the Victoria Clipper... past our slip, then a 270º turn to position the boat where we can back in. After watching me do it, I talked the other captain through several "touch and goes"... then took the helm back for an end to our day on the water.
I couldn't wait to get back to our boat to tell Joan about my day. Adding to the delight: she has a pasta dinner on the stove. This is a very good day!
Joan worked around our boat again today (she doesn't start until next week). Some folks think living on the boat is austere. The space is compact, but we have the amenities we need. While shopping today, Joan picked up some flowers...
The plastic "vase" attaches to one of our rear cabin windows - no issue with it tipping over if the boat rocks. ;-) We got this idea from our friends, Roger and Janet, seeing it onboard their C-Dory TomCat. It's a nice homey touch.
We have the next few days off. Tomorrow, I am planning to ride along on a trip - friends of ours from home are visiting the area, and tomorrow is their day at Friday Harbor. They were wanting to be on a boat I was driving, but this is better for me - I'll actually get to spend some time with them.
Tonight, we are dining in the cockpit, with the cabin door open... able to watch TV through that open door.
Yeah, all the amenities. :-)
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